The full form of CGPA is Cumulative Grade Point Average.

A cumulative grade point average (GPA), or overall GPA, is calculated by dividing a student’s total grade points from all semesters by the number of total credit hours. The resulting average gives a more comprehensive picture of a high school or college career than a semester or year GPA.

Cumulative GPA is the score that colleges and employers usually look at. It’s an important measurement of consistency because it gives a long term perspective and demonstrates a solid track record of academic success. After all, a student who takes easy classes during the last half of their junior year might make all “A”s that semester, but a score that includes points earned from every semester provides a more accurate representation.

How does a GPA work?

In the same way that your professors and instructors give you a grade to evaluate your progress or success in their course, your Grade Point Average is a score used to evaluate your success during the entirety of your degree programme.

Your average GPA is a number that shows what you typically scored in your classes throughout the semester, term, and year. Your GPA scores can go up and down throughout your time at the university and will change according to how much you improve your overall grades (or, in some cases, how much you fell behind).

Grading systems and GPA scores

There are many grading systems out there, using different scales, letters, numbers, and so on. Here are a few common ways grades are measured throughout the world:

• A-F: in the US, Canada, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, etc.
• 1-10: in the Netherlands, Colombia, Latvia, Israel, etc.
• 1-5: in Germany, Austria, Russia, Slovakia, Paraguay, etc.
• Percentage: in Kuwait, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, etc.

There are other common methods used by universities to evaluate and rank students. Yet, in order to make these grades translatable – that is, readable to other countries and universities – they will often use an average score system.

In Europe, for example, universities can use the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) to help convert grades easily. This system makes education more transparent and allows students to have their academic grades recognised in different European countries.